20 March 2013

Onion Origins - HR

In 2006 I enrolled in the Professional Writing and Editing course at RMIT
because, after an enjoyable but slightly aimless Arts degree in English and
Cinema Studies, supported by a career based in swimming pools and video shops,
it had finally clicked that editing would rather suit me.

One of my classes was Non-Fiction Writing - taught by then-A&U
adult-publishing legend Andrea McNamara - which I decided to take because I was
writing a thesis interpreting Paul Cox's films through a Lacanian lens and I
fondly imagined this might become a book relevant to many people if only they
knew it.

Andrea soon dampened my illusions of becoming the foremost Coxian academic
expert via trade publishing, but she did take me on as a placement student
because she observed I was 'picky', which is possibly only ever a compliment in
the context of editing.

While I was on placement, Andrea generously loaned me to the children's
team whenever an extra pair of hands or eyes were needed. Besides learning the
finer points of writing readers notes to accompany the beautiful novels underway
at the time, such as The Killer's Tears by Anne-Laure Bondoux ,
it soon became apparent that this was an office that would
enthusiastically consume any kitchen experiment of a sweet nature - so all in
all the situation was happily relevant to my interests on a number of fronts.

And then a fortunate series of events occurred: Sheralyn, the Office
Manager, went overseas so I was given the responsibility of wrangling the
reception desk, and then Julia, the Publishing Assistant, needed a Girl Friday
to do all of the things, and then Eva went on maternity leave so a more permanent set of hands and eyes were required and,
well, I was already there busily undertaking in-depth discussions with The Tall
Designer and the Smaller Publisher about how to best represent poo (or not) on the cover of Barry
Jonsberg's The Dog That Dumped on My Doona.

So with pickiness and cakes and opinions about poo on covers, I inveigled my way into
being part of the furniture at the House of Onion and have since worked on far
too many brilliant children's and YA books to ever consider academic monographs
again!

Thank you, Andrea - and I think the Onions would agree you were right, as
always, about recommending this latest Excellent Cake recipe - Pistachio & Lime
Syrup Cake.